1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless telephones and more specifically, wireless telephones operable with personal information managers.
2. Present State of the Art
Cellular or wireless telephones are becoming increasing more popular. As the work force becomes more mobile and less office-spaced centered, the need for wireless telephones and associated services becomes more indispensable. Although wireless telephones have become significantly smaller and less expensive, there are still several shortcoming associated with conventional wireless telephones. For example, some wireless telephones are now configured to receive paging or e-mail messages. Unfortunately, as the size of the telephone has decreased, so has the display screen thereon. Accordingly, it is often difficult to view and read messages of any significant length.
Furthermore, although wireless telephones are capable of storing a select number of manually input phone numbers, wireless telephones are severely limited in their ability to function as information managers. That is, wireless telephones which have a particularly small display screen, are not configured to manage and sort daily schedules, yearly calendar events, addresses, or business cards. In addition, conventional wireless telephones are not practical as information managers since it is often desired to receive or record information in an information manager while one is talking on the telephone.
To effectively manage information, personal information managers (hereinafter "PIMs") have been developed. PIMs are small, substantially hand-sized computers that are used for storing, manipulating, and retrieving a defined amount of data. One example of a PIM is the PalmPilot.RTM. manufactured by 3Com. The PalmPilot.RTM. functions primarily as an electronic day planner and address recorder. PIMs have a relatively large screen and thus are useful in imputing, sorting, and retrieving data. Nevertheless, they also have their limitations. For example, although PIMs can be coupled with a host computer for downloading or transferring files therebetween, PIMs are not designed to independently receive or display paging or e-mail messages. Furthermore, PIMs are not designed for interacting with wireless telephones.